Internal-combustion engine.



E. A. RIOTTE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPUCATION FILED DEC. 14. 1915.

%1 attovmiarr Patented Nov. 6, 1917.

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INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED 056.14.1916.

1,245,509. I Patented Nov. 6, 1917.

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EUGENE A. RIOTTE, or DOUGLASTON, NEW YORK. essrenon ro STANDARD MOTOR CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, or JERSEY CITY, NEW mnsnv A on NEW JERSEY.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedNov. o, 1917.

Application filed December 14, 1916. Serial No. 186,941.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EUGENE A. Brown, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Douglaston, Queens county, New York, have invented a new and useful Internal-Combustion Engine, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to internal combustion engines, the object being to provide an apparatus whereby the heavier hydro-carbons, such as kerosene, may be effectively employed for fuel.

My main object is to obtain eiiiciency of operation and to substantially reduce all danger of carbon deposit upon the cylinder walls. The above and other objects will be apparent to a mechanic skilled in the art from a reading of the following description and an examination of the accompanying drawings, in which I Figure 1 is a side elevation of an engine shown partly in vertical section on the plane of the line 11, Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a plan view.

Fig. 3 is a relatively enlarged sectional view of the engine head and certain associated parts illustrating a modification.

1 represents a cylinder. 2 represents a piston. 3 represents the usual exhaust valve mechanically opened on the exhaust stroke of the piston to permit the burnt gases to be expelled. The usual cam 4: and rocker 5 may be employed to operate the valve 3. The engine is, of course, provided with the usual crank shaft and connecting rod (not shown). My present invention is. essentially an improvement upon the apparatus made the subject matter of a copending application of Benjamin C. Smith, filed December 15th, 1916, Serial No. 137,111, my chief object in the present case being to improve the means for admitting gas and air to the cylinder so that a very effective explosive mixture may be formed and so that condensation of the fuel on any wall of the cylinder may be practically eliminated. 6 represents a gas pipe which is a continuation of a gas generating apparatus, the external casing of which is conventionally shown at 7. This generating apparatus may be of the type shown in the said Smith copending application, or as shown in Smith Patent #1,122,038. The external prises the wall of the casing through which the exhaust gases pass, whereby the gas which flows through the pipe 6 to the engine cylinder or cylinders is relatively hot. The fuel feed pipe 6 leads to a fuel admission port which is preferably located centrally in the head of the cylinder and is controlled by a valve 8, which in this instance is preferably mechanically operated by a rocker 9 which is moved by a cam through the medium of a rocker 10 and a rod 11. This valve 8, instead of being mounted directly in the cylinder head, is mounted in the center of" an air admission valve 12. This air admission valve has pref erably a hollow stem 13 through which the stem of the valve 8 passes freely as shown,

there being sufiicient space between the stem of the valve 8 and the tubular valve stem. 13 to permit gas to flow to the valve 8 and through the passage controlled thereby when said valve is opened. The air valve 12-is closed by.a spring 14. 15 is an air admission passage which leads to an opening into the cylinder controlled by the valve 12. The valve 8 may be closed'in anysuitable way, as by a spring 16. 17 conventionally represents a valve for controlling the fuel supply, while 18 represents a valve for controlling the air supply. By manipulating the valves 17 and 18 the proper mixture of gas and air in the cylinder may be effected. I have shown the invention as applied to an engine of the two cylinder variety, but it is obvious that the number of cylinders is immaterial.

In operation, it will be observed that, by reason of the concentric relationship of-the valves 8 and 12 and by reason of their central position in the bore of the cylinder 1, when the air is admitted past the valve 12, it will flow out in all directions radiating from the center of the head and will sweep down the sides of the cylinder so as to form in "effect an envelop between the relatively rich gas admitted through the central passage controlled by the valve 8, thus preventing any products of condensation that might possibly occur from lodging upon the walls of the cylinder in a moist state. It is well known that when the heavier hydro-carbons become condensed and lodge on the walls of the cylinder as aforesaid in small drops or globules, the same burn only imperfectly Q gaeatce and very quickly form a carbon deposit which seriously interferes with the efiiciency of the engine and quickly calls for the tak ing down and scraping of the walls. By my improvement, this danger is very materially avoided and I have found that the relatively heavy hydro-carbons may be employed with very great efiiciency thereby efecting substantial economies in engines of this variety.

In the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2 both .valves '8 and 12 are mechanically operated, that is to say, when the rocker arm 9 tilts in the valve opening direction, it depresses the stem of thevalve 8 so as to open this valve. The upper end of the stem of valve 8 is provided with a shoulder 19 which quickly engages an extension on the upper end of stem of the valve 12 whereupon the continuedmovement of the arm 9 in the valve opening direction forces the valve 12 open so that both valves will be held open simultaneously for the desired period whereby the fuel-gas and air will simultaneously enter the cylinder, the air entering in the form of an envelop as previously described.

In the modification shown in Fig. 3 both valves are of the so-called self-acting type. In this case 12 represents the air valve, 8 the fuel valve, 13 the hollow stem of valve 12*, 14 the spring for the valve 1%, and 16 the spring for the valve 8. In this case the spring 16 may seat on a shouldered guide 13 on the stem 13*.

It will be understood that I have shown my invention in merely conventional forms and have described only certain constructions and arrangements of the various parts, all of which may be modified in a wide variety of ways Without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The engine may be started in any desired way. Ordinarily, in starting an engine designed to operate with fuel such as kerosene, gasolene is first used until the parts have become properly heated whereupon the kerosene supply is substituted for the gasolene supply.

Any suitable igniting means may be employed.

It will be noted that the relatively cool air which enters the cylinder past the valve 12 and the relatively hot gas which enters the cylinder past the valve 8 do not become mixed until practically the last moment preceding ignition, and indeed are probably not fully mixed until the compression stroke. As a result, the tendency of condensation of the fuel is greatly reduced, and even if there should be some condensation of the liquid fuel in the gas admitted, the surrounding air envelop protects the walls of the cylinder and piston, as I have before outlined. Obviously, if the hot relatively rich gas were bustible mixture, said ports being arranged cooled before entering the cylinder, either by an external cooling means applied for example to the pipe 6, or by the admission of cool air thereto before it enters the cylinder for the purpose of forming the explosive mixture externally of the cylinder itself, this cooling of the gas would cause condensation and result in the rapid sooting up of the cylinder walls, which would be disastrous to the successful use of kerosene. Ihe aforesaid Smith application discloses an apparatus and method of avoiding in a very large measure this result and my present improvement further reduces that danger by providing a protective envelop of relatively pure air around the central core of gas. By the use of the term airor pure air, as referred to herein, I do not mean to exclude atmospheric air which may be in some measure charged with a gas, that is to say, I do not feel that the scope and spirit of my invention could be avoided by merely adding some gas to the relatively cool air admitted to form the barrier or envelop within the cylinder and to properly adulterate the relatively hot rich gas'whereby the final combustible mixture is produced.

What I claim is: v

li In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder, a piston therein, an exhaust valve, a fuel admission port leading into the cylinder, an air admission port leading into the cylinder around the fuel admiwon port, valve mechanism for said ports, means for 1 forming a relatively hot "rich gas and for 100 introducing the same into the cylinder through the fuel admission port simultaneously with the admission of air into said cylinder, whereby said rich gas will be substantially surrounded with an envelop of air while the cylinder is being charged, and whereby the gas will be finally adulterated to a suficient extent to form a proper combustible mixture.

2. In an internal combustion engine, a. cylinder, a piston therein, an exhaust valve, a fuel admission port leading into the cylinder, an air admission port leading into the cylinder around the fuel admission port, valve mechanism for said ports, means for forming a relatively hot, rich gas and for introducing the same into the cylinder through the fuel admission port simultaneously with the admission of air into said cylinder, whereby said rich gas will be substantially surrounded with an envelop of air while the cylinder is being charged, and whereby the gas will be finally adulterated to a sufficient extent to form a proper com- 126 substantially in the center of the head of said cylinder.

3. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder, a piston therein, an exhaust valve, a fuel admission port leading into the cylin- 130 der, an air admission port leading intothe cylinder around the fuel admission port, valve mechanism for said ports, means for forming a relatively hot rich gas and for introducing the same into the cylinder through the fuel admission port simultaneously with the admission of air into said cylinder, whereby said rich gas will be substantially surrounded with an envelop of air while the cylinder is being charged, and whereby the gas will be finally adulterated to a suflicient extent to form a proper combustible mixture, with means for regulating the relative proportion of gas and air admitted into the cylinder.

4. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder, means for generating and conducting into the same a relatively hot rich gas, means for conducting into said cylinder as an envelop around the said gas a relatively cool combustion supporting adulterant therefor, means for causing said gas and adulterant to enter said cylinder simulta neously on the suction stroke of the piston,

said gas and adulterant being mixed on the compression stroke of said PlStOlL 5. The method of forming a combustible mixture for use in'an internal combustion engine comprising, simultaneously introducing into the cylinder on the suction stroke of the engine a charge of relatively hot rich gas substantially surrounded b a relatively cool combustion supporting adiilterant, and mixing said gas and adulterant on the compression stroke thereof to form a combustible mixture.

6. The method of forming a combustible mixture for use in an internal combustion engine comprising, simultaneously introducing into the cylinder, at a point near the center of the outer end thereof and on the suction stroke of the engine, a charge of relatively hot rich gas substantially surrounded by a relatively cool combustion supporting adulterant, and mixing said gas and adulterant on the compression stroke thereof to form a combustible mixture.

EUGENE A. RIOTTE. 

